The Epic of Gilgamesh

The Epic of Gilgamesh

The Epic of GilgameshThe history of one of the worlds oldest recorded epicAZ. Hornoz

Later, the Akkadians, Babylonians, Hittites, Assyrians, and Chaldeans took over their cities and adopted their culture.

These proceeding races adapted their own version of the Epic of Gilgamesh.

SumeriaAnu father of gods and god of the sky (similar to Zeus)

Enlil god of the airUtu sun god; lord of truth and justiceThere is no evidence that the events in the epic actually happened, however there was a Gilgamesh who ruled the Sumerian dynasty of Uruk in 2,700BCE.

Gilgamesh was the actual king of ancient Uruk about 2700 B.C.

This statue depicts Gilgamesh as a powerful ruler and lion-killer.

Gilgamesh was written down on over 40,000 clay cuneiform tablets in 2,000 BCE.

Scholars were able to translate Sumerian cuneiform by comparing it to later Akkadian tablets with similar stories.The earliest writing in Mesopotamia was a picture writing invented by the Sumerians who wrote on clay tablets using long reeds. The script the Sumerians invented and handed down to the Semitic peoples who conquered Mesopotamia in later centuries, is called cuneiform, which is derived from two Latin words: cuneus , which means "wedge," and forma , which means "shape." This picture language, similar to but more abstract than Egyptian hieroglyphics, eventually developed into a syllabic alphabet under the Semites (Assyrians and Babylonians) who eventually came to dominate the area.

The legend itself was adapted by a number of different cultures following the decline of the Sumerian empire.Akkadians (2100 - 2000 BC)The Akkadian people easily take over Sumerian culture. Sumers lack of a unified government.

However, Sumerian culture is maintained through these shifts in power.Under their king, Sargon, the Akkadians produce a version of Gilgamesh.

Babylonians (1700-700 BC)There was also a version from the Old Babylonian empire under Hammurabi.The Babylonians recognized the value of Sumerian culture and adopted much of it as their own.Sumerian became a literary language.

Assyrians (700-600 BC)In first millennium under the Assyrian empire the Epic of Gilgamesh took on its final written form.

The final translation was added to the Kings library at Nineveh.

After the destruction of Nineveh by the Chaldeans in 612 BCE, the epic was lost until the library was excavated in 1872 CE.